I have a weird chest pain symptom that they haven't been able to figure out, but have ruled out cardio and costochondritis. Been to the ER and sent home with instructions to take Advil. It only happens about twice a year, but most recently just last week. I've had many cardio tests done and they say my heart is in good shape.

Anyway, I call them rolling chest spasms. It starts just below the sternum as a terrible clenching and then the spasm moves up and outward. But once it gets going they can be anywhere from neck, shoulders, full ribcage, chest, that general area. Each one can last for minutes, and some are painful enough that I get that 'starting to pass out' feeling, when the blackness is closing in on your vision and you start going down.

Last week's started Tues night and finally subsided Thurs midday, had about 40 spasms during that time. It's over now and won't be back for months.

The docs think it's part of Fibro because there's no associated inflammation. During a spasm the muscles hurt, but afterward there's no pain, and they can't trigger anything by palpation. I take muscle relaxers and do the ice/heat thing to try to break the spasm.

Sorry this went on for so long, but I think it kind of matches part of what you're describing.View Thread

Sorry to hear of so many challenges for you. I haven't found any Fibro meds that I can take, mostly because of conflicts with migraine meds. However there are some pretty good herbals that can help you deal with stress.

Rhodiola is well known and studied as an adaptogen. You can take 200-500mg per day (all before noon to prevent sleep disruption.) Rhodiola has been very helpful to me. You might want to look into that and see if it's something for you.

Yes I have that where my left foot will be somewhat achy but functional. Then if I sit for awhile (maybe for lunch) and get up, the foot and ankle are locked up tight and suddenly level 8 on pain. Early on it was so unexpected that I fell twice. Now I watch for it and test the ankle, then get up slowly. It only happens about twice a month.

My other foot thing is the soles of my feet are often very tender. I had a pair of those slipper socks with the little rubber dots, and the dots hurt a lot! Good grief I was done in by a pair of slipper socks View Thread

I've worn the Ahh bras for a few years and like them, but they're expensive. Now I usually wear Hanes wirefree bandini or pullover styles from their website, they're much less expensive. The good thing is these knit styles last forever if you hang them to dry.

Last summer I found some bras similar to the Ahh bras in a thin lightweight knit at a Bali outlet. They are really nice on the most painful days or hot days when I need to be strapped in. If I ever see them again I'll buy a dozen!

Debrichard has the best advice, go at least one size up and two is better.

I love your words here, being vulnerable to people having a crappy opinion, that it wears on you. That's how I've felt so many times over the years. My life has gotten smaller, less and less interaction with people as I don't want to go through the efforts of telling new people about parts of my life. I walked away from a 25-yr friendship a few years ago because I was tired of explaining to her why I couldn't do things. I wondered if she wanted her disapproval to be my burden.

But my life is rich and good, the friends I have are wonderful. My husband and son are blessings. My dog, oh that dog, is such a clown!

I think I have accepted the Fibro, but I haven't rolled over and given up. Many days I keep moving even though I know the pain is or will be bad, but I WANT TO DO those things. And sometimes I keep moving because I Need to do things. Either way I'm going to hurt, might as well get some things off my list.

I agree with you about the importance of D to our health. It's interesting how the talk is changing about "best" levels. Back in 2005 (or so) when I had my first vitamin D test, it was very low of course, and was instructed to try to get it to something like 70-80.

Getting it up to and keeping it at that level was difficult, was taking as much as 5000iu a day. Then that triggered some problems with my calcium levels so now I take a moderate 1000iu a day, and the blood level has stayed around mid 30s.

My doc says there is some research out there about some who are overly sensitive to D3 supplements, but I haven't seen it. Since you're on top of that kind of material I was wondering if you've run across anything about that?

I appreciate the time you put into helping us with this stuff. Thanks for that.

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